Screen printing is forever

ASHEBORO — Riley Till has found a vocation he hopes to continue until, well … till death.

His budding business, Till Death Press, has moved from the basement of his home to 156 S. Fayetteville Street. He does screen printing and design and plans to offer a gallery of local art.

“I’ve been in art as long as I can remember,” Till said. “Someone suggested putting my art on shirts. That’s when I had an epiphany — ‘Can I make money with my art?’ ”

Till then learned how to screen print and found it something he loves. He acquired the equipment and began screen printing from his basement, printing art on T-shirts for friends and local businesses. But his basement was soon overrun.

“I committed to doing screen printing full-time, leaving Four Saints by the end of 2023,” he said.

On his regular job at Four Saints Brewing Co., just down the street, Till had met Brooks Hedrick, who owns buildings downtown. 

“I asked him to let me know if something opened up,” Till said. “He showed me this spot. It all clicked.

“If it’s downtown with people walking around, we should have something to sell,” he determined. “To justify being downtown, I wanted to add the retail aspect. We can show local artist’s works — all kinds of art. I have space to sell stuff but I can also stay busy back there.

“A cool thing is to be able to show people how to screen print,” Till said. “I’m happy to share that knowledge. I eventually want to have classes where the students can make art. The (learning curve) ceiling is pretty high but anyone can start doing it.”

Till said his business allows him to fulfill two interests. “I can work with my hands and also scratch my creative itch.”

But it takes two to do screen printing efficiently. Now he has a friend to help.

“Jordan Jeffers moved up from Florida,” Till said. “He was in our wedding. I needed help and he’s been working with me.”

Till said he grew up in Kernersville and can’t remember having ever been to Asheboro. After high school, he enrolled in college but found the classes, anything besides art, weren’t for him. So he started working and doing art on the side.

He met Bailey Powell at a Greensboro market where he was selling shirts. “She bought a shirt and we bonded over art,” he said. “She was studying costume design at the NC School of the Arts.” He said Bailey continues to do costume work.

Eventually, Riley and Bailey were married and moved to Asheboro in 2021. Bailey’s father is Rich Powell, the Asheboro-based illustrator and cartoonist. So art flourishes in the Till-Powell genes.

Till Death Press will design and screen print shirts for customers. Or, Till will use the customer’s art. 

He has a dark room to expose the screens to use as patterns. He positions the screen on a plate and places a shirt underneath. Then he spreads ink over the screen, with the ink leaking through onto the shirt.

After two or three swipes of the ink, the shirt has a perfect reproduction of the artwork. The shirt then goes into a dryer and comes out the finished product.

Till held a soft opening of his shop last Saturday during the Asheboro Fall Festival. There remains work to be done to the interior of the building but he’ll soon have regular hours.

Meanwhile, Till has orders to fill, mostly with local businesses. He said that when he delivers screen printed shirts to a business owner, seeing their face is what makes his work worthwhile.

And there’s another reason for Till to do screen printing “till death.” “I learn something new every day. That’s why I love it.”